Philanthropy

Bridging the Divide: WorldCom and Brown University have
partnered to launch a $5 million initiative to bridge the so-called
digital divide in places like Springfield, Mo., where many
schoolchildren not only lack access to updated computers, but also are
so behind the technology curve that they lack telephones in their own
homes.

WorldCom, which is based in Clinton, Miss., and the university,
which is in Providence, R.I., unveiled the five-year project last
week.

As part of the project, grants were announced for 20 programs
nationwide that aim to expose poor students to technology in school
settings, said Brooke Beaird, the associate director of Campus Compact,
the group that is implementing the grants through the university. Each
of the programs chosen will receive more than $200,000 over the
five-year period.

Various community members, business leaders, and college students
will help about 6,000 children, Mr. Beaird said.

The concept behind the grants is to utilize the skills of adults to
aid students in mastering technology.

"This effort brings together community groups, the private sector,
higher education, and schools to help build stronger, more vibrant
communities," said Jonathan B. Sallet, the chief policy counsel for
WorldCom. "Our purpose is to improve learning through technology, not
just through the provision of hardware and software, but by teaching
students to use technology to learn and thrive in today's
technology-rich environment."

Projects include the development of an online newspaper written by
youths in Hampshire, Mass., an international pen pal exchange based in
Dayton, Ohio, and a public-history initiative in Mount Hope, R.I.

"We are enthusiastic about this program because it will help
communities raise a generation of students who can not only use
technology, but can use it to improve their own neighborhoods," said
Elizabeth Hollander, the executive director of Campus Compact.

The effort is a "godsend," said Debra McDowell, the director of
citizenship and service learning at Southwest Missouri State University
in Springfield. Ms. McDowell wrote the grant proposal for a program
that will help more than 600 students in the city's public schools
learn to use computers and the Internet.

"A lot of these children have no concept of what computerization or
technology is all about," she said. "This allows us to get computers
into some of the [poorest] schools."